Student Profiles / Trina Wong
Sports Medicine, Exercise and Health MSc
Trina Wong graduated with BSc (Hons) Podiatry, UK and is a Senior Podiatrist at one of Singapore’s largest acute tertiary care hospitals. She enjoyed working simultaneously within a multi-disciplinary private sports clinic and in-patient orthopaedic setting where her work on chronic ulcer management was published in the Annals Academy of Medicine (2015). Trina has authored educational articles (RUN April/May 2016), presented at public running workshops and also volunteers as a pacer for running events. She was awarded a scholarship to pursue the Masters in Sports Medicine and Exercise Health at University College London which is based at and runs in collaboration with the ISEH.
Trina said: “The MSc course utilises a range of assessment methods such as poster/ oral presentations, laboratory report analysis, case-study based essays, written examinations and the research project. It provides a rounded training experience which is directly applicable for a practising clinician who may be required to present at conferences, participate in research and share educational information to the general public.
I have also benefitted from the variety of clinical sessions available on the course. While the student is responsible to arrange his/ her own placement sessions, there is a wide range of opportunities where many of the supervising clinicians are expert specialists who have taught on the course. The flexibility in placement sessions allowed me to explore areas I was particularly interested in. I enjoyed learning together with course-mates from different clinical and cultural backgrounds. Understanding the various perspectives through the sharing of work experiences has helped integrate my own clinical learning and better appreciate the strengths of each profession.
I am investigating the association of static foot posture with lower limb kinematic & kinetic variables. My project consists of using a force-plated treadmill and infra-red motion markers for objective data-collection. The better appreciation of motion and its contributing variables aims to aid clinical decision-making.
The course has reinforced my motivation to promote physical activity for health promotion in the general population. I hope to pass on my knowledge to those around me as well as cater concepts learnt to the development of public health in Singapore through my capacity of working within a large tertiary hospital.
Injury prevention and management are key to this development where a podiatrist’s understanding of gait and motion analysis will be extremely useful in a multi-disciplinary sporting team, especially in the presence of asymmetry or pathology. I look forward to more of such multi-disciplinary collaborations.”